46 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 427 



variety White Cloud was badly affected by the disease at South Bend, Indiana, 

 in 1902. The parentage of Enchantress is unknown. Mrs. Thomas Lawson is a 

 seedling of Daybreak X Van Leurens, neither of which can be traced further. 

 White Cloud is a seedling of Daybreak X E. A. Wood, and the latter is a seedling 

 of a cross of an unknown seedling X Tidal Wave. Tidal Wave is of unknown 

 pedigree. Some of the more recent very susceptible varieties are Jane Suther- 

 land Golden Glow, Fairy Queen, and Virginia, and most of these are not too 

 remotely descended from Mrs. Thomas Lawson. Golden Glow is a seedling 

 of Morning Glow X Matchless, and the latter, like Boston Ward (selection of 

 Mrs. C. W. Ward), is very susceptible to Alternaria blight. Matchless is a seed- 

 ling of White Perfection X Alma Ward. The pedigree of White Perfection is 

 unknown. Alma Ward is a seedling of Prosperity X an unknown seedling. The 

 pedigree of Prosperity is unknown. With such incomplete records, it is not 

 possible to trace the origin of susceptibility to a common ancestry. 



In contrast, a high degree of resistance to Alternaria blight is shown by Ivory, 

 Puritan, Peter Fisher, Maine Sunshine, Johnson's Crimson, and Sophelia. 

 Sophelia, which is represented in the pedigree of many resistant varieties such 

 as Joan Marie, Peter Fisher, and Puritan, is a seedling of Mrs. Akehurst X Match- 

 less. The weakness of Matchless was its great susceptibility to Alternaria blight. 

 Some of the pedigree of both Ivory and Maine Sunshine is Mrs. C. W. Ward, 

 a very susceptible type. 



It is interesting to note that named varieties originated as sports invariably 

 possess the same reaction to disease manifested by their pedigree. For example, 

 all of the selections and sports of Mrs. C. W. Ward are very susceptible to Alter- 

 naria blight. Sophelia has produced several sports, also Peter Fisher derived 

 from Sophelia, all of which are highly resistant to blight. 



Records of the pedigree, characters, and originator of carnation varieties have 

 been maintained by the American Carnation Society since its inception at Phila- 

 delphia in 189L It is regrettable that carnation breeders have in many cases 

 failed to declare the pedigree of their named varieties and have disregarded the 

 importance of the register in serving the useful purpose to science and the car- 

 nation industry for which it was originally intended. 



The pedigree of twelve varieties of carnations has been traced as far back as 

 possible from the Register of the American Carnation Society and from the notes 

 of George Hetzel, breeder for C. B. Johnson, Woburn, Massachusetts, originators 

 of several of the varieties for which histories are given. Tables 14, 15. 



Carnation breeders have only rarely considered reaction to disease in the pro- 

 duction of new varieties and it is, therefore, not surprising that this factor should 

 have become understood only after the variety had been introduced to the trade. 

 Consequently, many varieties have experienced only a limited commercial pro- 

 duction and should never have been introduced. Of more than 100 new varieties 

 of carnations introduced between 1930 and 1940, about 70 percent are resistant 

 or only slightly susceptible to Alternaria blight and about 20 percent slightly to 

 moderately susceptible. 



Fusarium Root and Crown Rot 



The reaction of carnation varieties to Fusarium root rot could not be estab- 

 lished by submerging the roots in a water suspension of spores of Fusarium cul- 

 morum. Under commercial conditions of culture the disease has been trouble- 

 some on King Cardinal, Virginia, Olivette, and Boston Ward. All varieties show 

 susceptibility when the fungus inoculum is placed into knife cuts in the stems 

 of branches and swabbed with moist cotton. Studies at the Colorado Agricultural 

 Experiment Station (15) have not revealed any resistant types among Dianihus 



